GREAT Harwood Town boss John Hughes says he saw the light when his side were trailing 2-0 at Nelson on Saturday.
And unlike Sven against Australia, he rang the changes and found the right balance between youth and experience, bringing on 16-year-old Matt Derbyshire who terrorised the Nelson defence, helping Harwood to a 3-2 victory.
Afterwards Hughes enthused: "Matty shone for us that day. Nelson have some big lads in the squad but he ran them ragged. He can head the ball, control it and use his pace. He took the markers away from John Eastham which gave him the room he needed to score."
Eastham bagged a brace, his first goal coming on 73 minutes when he rose to head home from a corner kick, and he again used his head to score when he got on the end of an Andy Taylor cross. Richard Fogarty netted Harwood's first goal after Derbyshire opened up the Nelson rearguard on the hour mark.
Hughes said: "I was pleased with our performance but we shouldn't have given away those two goals. We kept on trying to walk the ball into the net. I've put in a few younger players and it shows as I took off Paul Mashiter, who is 17, and replaced him with a 16-year-old. It's best to get them in the side early as that's the way they learn."
Harwood have a rare free Saturday this week in the North West Counties Division Two.
